Factual error: The "bullets" extracted from the victim are intact cartridges, not fired bullets with no cases. (00:12:36)
Factual error: There is a flashback scene in this episode, where a young, dejected Abby Sciuto is walking along railroad tracks after failing to give the bear back to Ricki. This scene starts with a shot of the railroad tracks, then pans up to Abby. It can be seen that the rails are laid on concrete sleepers, with modern steel clips holding the rails to the sleepers. Given that the flashback appears to take place when she was at least a couple of decades younger (i.e. the mid-1990s), such modern methods of construction wouldn't have been used. A period-accurate railroad track would have wooden sleepers, spikes and lighter rail. As such, it's obvious that the producers just went to the nearest railroad tracks and filmed the scene there.
Answer: I hadn't seen the backdoor pilots yet but while it wasn't explicitly stated, at least onscreen, I heard somewhere Vivian got either fired from NCIS due to jeopardizing a case, got resigned from the agency, or transferred to the FBI.
Raykvega423